Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	action_n	bring_v	plaintiff_n	1,503	5	10.5483	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93441	The antiquity & original of the Court of Chancery and authority of the lord chancellor of England being a branch of Serjeant Snagg's reading, upon the 28 chapter of Magna Charta, at the Middle Temple, in Lent, 13 Eliz. : with his congratulatory epistle, (by way of preface) to the Lord Chancellor Hatton, in 29 Eliz.	Snagg, Robert.	1654 (1654)	Wing S4381A; ESTC R42651	18,654	95

to the Law or that great Office for some have grown by Grant by reasō of the Kings Prerogative which both the Law and the Chancery alloweth and are to allow of right so it be not in derogation of their Authorities and may stand with the Law of the Land For the Kings Bench proceedeth by Bill without Original against such as be Prisoners to the Mareschal thereof and that justly for that no Law can prescribe the King a form to proceed in Iustice for those Causes that be before himself but he may receive any complaint without Writ and proceed as it please him so he observe the Law for Iustice Iudgement which is done there as well as in the Common Pleas where all come in by Original Writ For though it be not by like form for process yet it is by the same form of pleading and judgement in matter substance of Law all one And in this part it is manifest that this Authority also in the Lord Chancellor to direct out Original Writs is by the Law of the Land given unto him and his form prescribed to him by the Law how he should make them And to that purpose there is a Book of Law left in the Chancery that the Chancery men are bound to follow which is called The Register And if the Writs be not made according to the form of Law thereby prescribed the Judges will reject them and judge thē void which is called in Law abating of the Writ So as it is apparent that in this also his Lordship and his Office is by the Common Law and are members of the Commō Law and that he doth it not by any other Authority above Law or besides it 5. Then was considered of his Lordships authority to judge which appeareth in 9 E. 4. fol. 14. in a Book-case to be of two sorts or by two powers viz. One according to the course of the Common Law or Positive Law which is there said to be Potentia ordinata which is in process in pleading and in judgement according to the course of the Common Law of the Land The other is said Absoluta potentia which is in process according to the Law of Nature to send for the party to Answer and receive his Answer if he will make it then proceed to examine the truth of the matter and if he will not answer but be Contumax yet his Honour is to proceed to the examination of the truth and not to condemn him in the cause for his obstinacy if it may appear that the matter be not good against him And there is noted this difference which is apparent and common in practice That where the proceeding is according to Ordinary power mispleading on either part may marr his Matter and the judgement must be according to the Law howsoever the equity of the Case shall fall out But if the proceeding be according to Absolute power though the party mis-plead if the Lord Chancellor shall perceive the matter to be good on his side his Lordship is to judge for him for whom Equity serveth be it the Plaintiff or Defendant for that he is to judge as he shall find the matter to be in Conscience good or bad and not as he shall find the pleading to be formal and good or vicious and evil or as the Law will in the Case As for example in such actions as be brought in the Chancery before the L. Chancellor as an Audita querela to avoid a Recognisance for Nonage or other good Cause in Law And in actions brought according to the course of the Law either by any of the Court or against any of them by reason of their Privilege and in Vouchers upon Aid-prayer of the King and such other whatsoever actions are pursued there according to the course of the Law his Lordship is not to regard what Conscience would in the Case but is tyed to the strict course of Law so as if the matter be against Conscience in his Lordships opinion yet he is to adjudge with him that the Law serveth for yea if his matter appear to be good and his Counsel have lost it by pleading his Lordship can not help it in judgement nor if the Law be against him though Equity Conscience would seem for him But on the other side if the proceeding be by the Absolute power howsoever the party or his Counsel oversee or set forth their matter whatsoever the precise Rule of Law requireth if his Lordship perceive by his Wisdom that the cause in Conscience is good on his side his Lordship is to adjudge with him for that then judgement is to proceed secundum Conscientiam Veritatem and not in Forma Juris But in any Case that is there in form of Law if it fall out that in Conscience it ought to be relieved the party may put in a Bill follow it in that course and then his Lordship may stay the course of Law 6. Then was it enquired Whether his Lordship may take order in all causes which are against Conscience or that the Law hath limited them also and allowed of some to hold in that course and some not And it seemed that Conscience whereby his Lordship is to judge is not to be understood simpliciter and to be Simplex Conscientia but Regulata Conscientia and therein to follow Order and Course accustomed viz. to take order in such Cases as by the Course of the Court hath been ordered before-time and in Causes of like Equity or greater wherfore oftentimes Presidents are sought for and required and for lack of Presidents it hath been sought how cases in the like reason or in eodem respectu with that that is then in question have been used to prove that that Court may take cognizance of the Cause As for example it is against Conscience that a rich Father should suffer an honest Son to begg that a rich Son should suffer a good Father to want yet his Lordship in those cases cannot make the one to give away his goods to relieve the other according to Conscience But that which that Regulata Conscientia relieveth is not when one keepeth his own unconscionably but when one seeketh an other mans Goods or Lands or to trouble his person unconscionably either by colour of Law or extorted power further or otherwise than in good Conscience it ought to be then his Lordship proceeding according to the course of that Court is in Conscience to relieve the party that is so dealt with or his Lands or Goods so taken or sought contrary to Conscience 7. And it was thought that if it be unconscionable that is done if the Law in ordinary course may give a competent remedy and the party sufficiently able to follow it and that there be no defect in any circumstance but that by the Law the party wronged may be relieved that his Lordship ought not to deal in it but referr it to the Law to be judged

King that hath an Authority by Prerogagative above the Law in many cases as to pardon and acquit by Mercy where the Law of Justice condemneth must attribute to the Law Dominion and Power the Lord Chancellor though he hath an Authority besides Law and yet allowed by the Law is to attribute Dominion and Power to the Law in all that he can for that it made him an Officer in so high degree and therefore he may not Cancell or deface it Which point that he is made by Law and hath his Authority therby is afterwards fully proved And it is to be Noted That his Lordship by his Absolute power cannot stay the Course of Law but onely bindeth the person not to follow the Law in any Unconscionable Course This may serve to shew that it was not said of Cancelling the Law for in those Cases of Conscience it is found by experience that the Law will take her course if the party call upon it though the Lord Chancellor hath otherwise ordered the Cause But his Lordship hath his Name of Cancelling the Kings Letters Patents which is a thing of as great Honour to his Lordship and the Law as th' other had been of Dishonor and Disgrace to both wherein it was Noted That the Letters Patents of the Prince once passed the Great Seal do bind both his or her Majesty their Heirs and Successors and all Subjects yea so far as the King or Queen cannot call them in if they find them unfit nor any Subject can gainsay them if they be not just Yet by Law if Letters Patents be past the Great Seal in deceipt of the King or Queen the Judges by the Law are to adjudge it undue and not to bind the King or Queen in that respect wherein they were deceived but yet they must leave it under Seal and cannot deface it But if any Letters Patents pass the Great Seal injurious to any Subject or prejudicial to the Law the Lord Chancellor as a Judge of Law and not by his absosolute Authority by his Ordinary power and by the course of the Common Law is to judge of it which proveth that the Law and not Prerogative giveth him that power For he is to hold plea of it by course of Law and to call the party interessed in it by process of Law and so proceed according to the Law and repeal it by Judgement if it be found in Law to be injurious And then the Lord Chancellor may Cancell it and pull the Seal frō it and deface it which neither the King or Queen by Prerogative nor any other Judge of Law nor other Lord of England can do but himself who only hath that Authority Wherefore thereof he is called Dominus Cancellarius Angliae as if it were said that Lord that only hath Authority in England to Cancell the Letters Patents of the Kings that bind both the King and the Subjects if they be injurious to any Subject or prejudicial to the Law In this part there were Three things Noted One that hereof his Lordship took his Name Another that this was his highest Authority for that none but he had the like in the Land The third that his Lordship hath it given him by the Law and is in that respect a Judge of the Law and proceedeth in course of Law and not according to Conscience and by his Absolute power or extraordinary Authority for he cannot judge thereof any otherwise but by the Law of the Land 3. Then was Noted As all justice floweth from the King or Queen as from the Fountain and no Authority or Jurisdiction in England is lawfull that is not drawn from thence so is his Lordship and his Office next under the King or Queen to direct such Commissions and Grants as shall give Judicial authority to any judge according to the Law which must pass under the Great Seal or they be not sufficient For example There is no Judge made by Writ or Commission but it cometh from thence neither hath any Man power tenere placita but it must grow first by Grant from thence except it be the petit Sutes that belong to petit Courts as Courts Baron and County-Courts whereof it is said by Law de minimis non curat Lex but the Law left them to the Lords at home to order them for the Peoples ease Yet in these Courts if any falle Judgement be given it cannot be redressed but by Writ out of the Chancery to bring it before better Judges But here of was noted That though he must direct out all Commissions and Grants before any can have Authority to judge according to the Law that his Lordship doth that also by the Law of the Land And the Commissions and Grants made by him are to be adjudged by the Law of the Land for their validity or invalidity And therefore that his Lordship therein is a Judge and member of the Law to appoint and direct the rest in that behalf and is to do it in that form and to that effect that the Law hath prescribed him which his Lordship may not alter whereby it is apparent that he hath that Authority also by the Law of the Land 4. Then was Noted That by the Common Law if any would complain of wrong or sue for right he was to come into the Chancery and set down by one of the Clerks thereof a Brief of his matter that he would put in Sute and that was by the Clerk to be set down in form in parchment and a Precept written before it in the Kings or Queens Name and that directed to the Sheriff of that Shire where the Plaintiff allegeth the Defendant was to be best found or the cause most aptly lay to be sued to Trial which Precept Commandeth the Defendant or Tenant to render right to the Plaintiff or Demandant or appear at the day prefixed in the Court appointed to him to answer him to the Law and that Brief enclosed in Wax sealed with the Great Seal the L. Chancellor is to send out by the course of the Common Law before any Subject can be sued for any matter of weight by the course of the Common Law And that Writ is called in Latine Breve wherein also was noted a great regard that the Law had that Men should not be lightly heard to complain of their Neighbours nor any Subject drawn into Sutes nor troubled nor any Causes but the petit ones aforesaid should be brought to judgement but by his Honours direction so as Judges should not send for whom they would nor listen to all that complained but to do Justice to those that were sent to them by the Kings Writ directed by the Lord Chancellor of England to be Retorned before them as fit to be considered of and meet to be drawn into Sute and Judgement Though sithence by usage divers Courts have obtained other proceedings by other process according to their Course and not by Originals and that is not derogatory either